Standing at Death's Door
by mockinjay771995
Summary: The children of the Anubis kids are just starting to settle into their new boarding school when a series of murders on their classmates occur. As the investigation goes deeper, lies are prominent, and everyone is a suspect. Is one of them really a killer? Is anyone to be trusted? And most importantly who's the killer's next victim? Sequel to Chosen Destiny-Can be read independently
1. Chapter 1

Shai's POV

The day was beautiful. The temperature hovered around seventy-five and a light breeze swept the grounds. The sky was a dazzling blue and not a cloud could be seen. The day would've been perfect for hiking, reading in the shade, walks around campus, friendly games of soccer(sorry, _football),_ anything would've been better than this.

I stood inches away from the yellow police tape, people were shuffling all around me, occasionally knocking into me, but I noticed none of it. My eyes and all my attention was locked onto one thing.

The girl was petite, short and skinny. Her auburn hair was fanned out like a halo around her head, her skin was as pale as snow, and her lips were a violent shade of blue. She was wearing the standard uniform for girls at the Ra Academy. And there was blood everywhere.

The sight made me slightly sick, I closed my eyes and turned my back to the crime scene. I wove my way to the outer throngs of the crowd, where I met up with Ethan Miller. I must've still looked sick because the second he saw me he tensed up. "It's bad isn't it?" He asked when I came to stand next to him. I nodded.

"It's Elizabeth." I said quietly. Ethan turned to face me, "Elizabeth Castor?" I nodded again. He let out a heavy breath.

There wasn't much more to say after that, not that I gave him a chance. I spotted a man slip underneath the tape and he started to head towards the black coroner van. I grabbed Ethan's hand and pulled him along with me. We intercepted the techie before he could get in the van.

"Can I help you kids?" He asked rather harshly. I wasted no time, "We want to know what killed Elizabeth." He said nothing. I was about to repeat the question when Ethan nudged my arm, and motioned to the name sewn on the techie's jacket. _P. Kersaw_

 _P._ Was a rather tall and gangly kid. He didn't look to be any older than maybe 25, he had frizzy red hair and dark brown eyes. His skin was almost as pale as Elizabeth's was.

"My dad's worked with him, he said this guy's pretty unpleasant." Unfortunately Kersaw heard that. "Hey! Who's your dad?" Before Ethan could reply a much more welcome voice entered the mix. "That would be me." Eddie Miller came up next to Kersaw, who was scowling.

Eddie was a homicide detective, and a good one too. It was no surprise that he was working the case.

"So," Eddie said, turning his attention back to Ethan and me. "Is there a reason that you guys are bugging the coroner?"

"We want to know how Elizabeth died." Kersaw gave me a level look, then he turned to Eddie. "That's classified information, we aren't allowed to just hand that out." Eddie put up a silencing hand and Kersaw huffed angrily.

Eddie also eyed us slightly suspiciously, he after all knew us a lot better than Kersaw did. Sensing hesitation Ethan spoke up, "We just want to know if she suffered, Elizabeth was a friend." Another moment of tense silence. "Listen," Eddie said finally, " We don't know how she died." Kersaw threw his hands up in frustration and swore loudly before shoving passed me and Ethan.

"What do you mean you don't know what killed her?" Ethan asked. Eddie shook his head, "That's exactly what I mean, the wounds that caused all the blood weren't fatal, she didn't die of blood loss, or blunt force trauma, we're going to start drug screening soon." He turned to walk away, but he stopped, turned again and stood in front of us. "You're not going to get involved in this, understand?" We both nodded. He studied us for a second longer than he took off again.

"We are going to get involved, right?" Ethan asked me.

"Of course we are." I answered.

 _I will find out who did this._ I vowed as the coroner and a few beat cops loaded Elizabeth's body into the coroner van. The doors slammed shut and the van took off.


	2. Chapter 2

Shai's POV

"Why wasn't the body hidden?" I asked the room at large. I was seated on my bed staring at the whiteboard me and Kira had set up. On the whiteboard we had a few pictures of the crime scene, including Elizabeth's body.

"What killed her?" Ethan asked, where he was sitting cross-legged against the door.

"When was she killed?" Kiara Lewis was sprawled on her bed.

"Who did it?" Jade Miller was lying on the floor in front of the board.

"Is she the only one that's going to be killed?" Alex Lewis was also sitting on Kiara's bed.

"All good questions," I sighed as I pushed myself to my feet. Taking a black marker I scrawled all our unanswered questions on the board.

 _ **Who?**_

 _ **What?**_

 _ **When?**_

 _ **Why wasn't she hidden?**_

 _ **Is she the last one?**_

I sighed again. "Do you know what would answer a lot of these questions?" I turned and met four blank looks. "The case file." I said slowly. "If we could just get a look at it…"

"There's no way the police would let us look at that file." Jade spoke up from beneath me. "Dad doesn't want us involved."

Before more could be said on the matter the sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs interrupted us. Jade launched to her feet and turned the board over so our work couldn't be seen. Then she took the marker from my hands and set up a game of tick-tack-toe.

A mere second after Jade had hidden our investigation the door swung open and struck Ethan on the side of his head. "Ow!" He said indignantly as Sophie Clarke stepped into the room. "Sorry." She sounded slightly annoyed.

Her blue eyes scanned the room and narrowed slightly. "What are you all doing up here?" Jade motioned to our tic-tack-toe game. "Playing." She said breezily. Sophie raised her eyebrows skeptically. "All of you?" We all nodded. A second of awkward silence later, Sophie finally relented. "Trudy and Doug want everyone downstairs." She left without a word from any of us.

We all groaned but filed out. Trudy was wonderful, Doug however…Well, let's just say he greatly resembled Jeff Dunham's "Walter" puppet. In both looks and attitude.

We trouped downstairs and into the living room. Sure enough Trudy and Doug sat on one of the couches, along with David Campbell, Sophie, and her older brother Milo. However an unfamiliar figure stood alone in the corner.

The mystery man was fairly short and tiny. He had long dark hair and deep brown, almost black, almond shaped eyes. He smiled at us warmly as we entered. Even so, I kept a suspicious eye on him, I learned the hard way people weren't always as harmless as they seemed to be.

Trudy seemed to notice my staring, "This is Detective Tanaki. He's here to ask you kids some questions about Elizabeth's, um…incident."

"Ask us questions? Like, as suspects?" Jade was a rather direct girl in case you haven't noticed.

Tanaki smiled good-naturedly. "No, not as suspects, as witnesses. Though, to be honest, you aren't the first to take it as such. You have a rather untrusting school." He smiled, but Jade was frowning.

"We have a good reason to keep our guard up, don't we? One of our classmates was murdered." Alex nudged her hard in the ribs. Tanaki's smile vanished. "Yes," He said slowly. "Fair point." He seemed to hesitate for a moment then he approached us.

"I'm simply gathering information from the victim's classmates to determine who she had access to, and why she might've been killed."

"Elizabeth," I spoke up before my brain fully registered why. Tanaki fixed his gaze onto me. "Her name was Elizabeth." I whispered finally.

"Elizabeth." Tanaki noted respectfully. Another tense pause. The detective clapped his hands together and the noise caused several of us to jump. "Now," He said. "Let's start with…" He eyed us all critically. "You." He said finally, his eyes were locked onto Sophie.

"Anywhere I could talk to the kids in private?" He asked Doug. Doug frowned, "You can use my office, at the top of the stairs."

Tanaki smiled again. "Perfect." He led Sophie into the hall and closed the door

…...

He stayed for at least two hours, questioning each of us individually. I was last. I knew this wasn't an interrogation, but I was still anxious as I closed Doug's office door behind me and took my seat in the chair with my back to the windows.

Despite my nervousness I held his gaze when he looked at me.

 _He's looking for nervousness,_ I reasoned with myself. _The police have to consider a student could've done this._ Without warning my mind flashed to the bloodbath crime scene. _Could another student have actually done that to Elizabeth?_ I suppressed a shudder at the possibility.

Tanaki smiled at me warmly again. "You were close friends with Elizabeth. You corrected me when I called her a victim. You were making sure I wasn't dehumanizing her. Making sure I remembered that she had been a living person less than 24-hours ago."

"24 hours? You mean she died last night?" I asked, without thinking. He nodded. "Does that mean something to you?" It was an innocent question, but I noticed him lean forward a bit, I saw him poise his pen over a notebook. He was looking for a slip-up.

I shook my head. "It's just… I talked to her last night." I said softly. "At approximately what time?" I thought hard for a second. "8:30 maybe? I texted her, asking a question about the social studies essay we had to write."

Tanaki's face grew gravely serious. "The coroner put Elizabeth's death at around 9 O'clock last night. You may have been the last person to speak to Elizabeth so I want you to think very hard. Did she seem afraid, or agitated? Did she say she was in danger or that someone wanted to hurt her?" I shook my head.

"It was a two minute conversation. I asked the question, she answered, and that was that. We never physically talked after school let out yesterday." He sighed. "You can leave, Shai. I have to get this information back to the station."

I didn't need telling twice.

I left the office with something buzzing in the back of my brain. A very vague _something_ had clicked and I couldn't figure out what.

I needed to look at that file now more than ever.

 **Hey guys, so here is the second chapter. I didn't want to waste time describing all the kids so I put information on them on my profile. Thanks for reading, and stick with it because it's about to get very mysterious.**

 **-Mockingjay**


	3. Chapter 3

Shai's POV

Because of all the interviews they were doing in the school Eddie and Detective Tanaki had set up a mini investigation office in one of the vacant classrooms. I walked by it before first period Monday morning, and it took all my will power not to slip inside and see exactly what the police knew. I hoped it was more than us, because we had nothing whatsoever.

Questions and theories chased each other around and around my head as I dug through my locker looking for my geometry workbook. Slamming my locker shut I heard a strange noise coming from the girl's bathroom across the hall. When I moved closer I distinguished the sound as choked sobs. Curious, I ducked inside.

The bathroom appeared to be empty, save for whoever was crying in the last stall. I cautiously knocked on the stall door, "Is everything okay in there?" I asked hesitantly. I heard the sobs subside slightly and then a very quiet voice answered, "I'm fine." I waited a moment, trying to place the voice.

"Pamela?" I called finally. Pamela Castor was Elizabeth's younger sister. I had met her a few times, even tutored her in French. She was in the year below me and I figured she had gone home with her parents.

"What are you doing here? I thought you went home?"

Instead of answering my questions, Pamela slid the lock on the stall back and she emerged rather timidly. Her face red and tear streaked. She looked a lot like her sister; short and skinny, red hair, freckles. Except her eyes were a piercing blue while Elizabeth's had been brown.

"Why were you crying?" I asked her. She blanched and said in an urgent whisper, "I'm scared. I told the police bad things." Then she clamped her hand over her mouth like she had just let loose a terrible secret she was meant to keep. "Pamela, what are you talking about? What bad things?" My voice clearly showed my alarm.

She slowly lowered her hand and color returned to her face, too much color, her face was as red as her hair now. She fixed me with a steely gaze that I was unused to from her. "She was scared." Pamela was whispering again, but this time her voice was harder. "She was scared of your little group. How you were always _sneaking_ around _whispering,_ she wanted to know what you were up to. And she was close too…" She continued to stare at me, unblinking. "Is that why one of you killed her?" She hissed.

I was so shocked I stood there frozen for several long minutes. The bell ringing for us to start class was what finally knocked me out if my stupor. I stumbled out of the bathroom, never taking my eyes off of Pamela.

I headed down the hall as fast as I could without actually running. Only one thought was stuck in my head, _I need to tell Sibuna_

….. .

However as I was taking my seat in Ms. Dwyer's geometry class I had my doubts. Maybe telling Sibuna wasn't the best option, after all I didn't know if Pamela was telling the truth, and if I said that someone suspected one of us it might cause trouble. We'd turn against each other and throw the entire investigation. No, it was better if I just kept what happened today to myself. After all, Pamela sounded pretty off-her-rocker, maybe even she didn't really know what she was saying.

…

The school day seemed to drag on, each minute felt like a hundred. I needed to have a nice long look at that investigation board something was still bugging me. I was just showing my bag into my locker when Sophie sprinted up to me, flushed and out of breath.

"What's wrong?" I asked when her breathing evened out. She was obviously very distressed. "It's Milo." She practically yelled, attracting a few odd looks. "What about him?" Sophie looked about ready to cry, "They arrested him!" She wailed. "They think he killed Elizabeth. I stood there stock still, I couldn't quite comprehend what was going. "Come on!" She yelled again, growing impatient. She seized my arm and pulled me out into the school yard. The day was overcast and I heard thunder rumble in the distance. Was there any way to get Milo out of this, I wondered as Sophie continued to drag me along the road towards town.


	4. Chapter 4

Ethan's POV

"Why'd they do it, though?" Jade and I were walking back to the house from school when she spoke up like we were already in the middle of a conversation. I didn't have to ask what she meant, "I don't know," I admitted, "But whatever the reason, it was big." I thought about the bloody crime scene. What had driven someone to kill as brutally as that?

"We need to start talking to people, making our own suspect lists." I could tell Jade was getting restless, we had nothing to go on; our investigation wasn't getting us anywhere. I shook my head, "No, the only thing we know is that she was killed around 9 0'clock on Friday night. Shai was right, we need that file." Jade threw me a look that I couldn't decipher, "There's no way we could get that file legally. We'd have to-" She stopped dead. Confused, I followed her sight line.

Detective Tanaki was talking to a girl. The girl was short and slim with waist length, straight black hair, tan skin and grey eyes. I vaguely recognized her, Maria something. She was a senior and friends with Elizabeth.

Jade and I ducked down behind the low brick wall that surrounded the campus; we slowly crept to the gate and peered out. Maria and the detective appeared to be arguing about something. "I'm telling you, you have the wrong guy." Maria sounded exasperated, as though she'd said this already. "Several of Elizabeth's friends stated that she was meeting with a guy the night she was killed. And all of those witnesses said she was meeting with Milo Clarke."

Jade and I exchanged a look of bewilderment. I didn't remember Milo and Elizabeth ever even talking, let alone meeting up on Friday nights.

Maria groaned in frustration. "She was meeting with someone, but it wasn't Milo. She was meeting with a guy about an internship after she graduated, that's the guy you should be looking for! He was the last person to see her alive!"

"Fine," Tanaki relented, "What time was she meeting with this mysterious employer?" I could tell he was just humoring her. "Right after school." Maria answered, still miffed. "Fine, we'll consider this, but I wouldn't be too excited. I think we already have our perp." Tanaki walked away, leaving Maria to storm in the opposite direction, muttering an impressive string of profanities.

"They think Milo killed Elizabeth?" Jade looked as dubious as I felt. "Milo is many things, but he isn't a killer." I agreed. We remained in stunned silence for a few seconds. "I'll go to the police station, you call Shai." Jade finally said. Without another word she shouldered her bag and headed for the road.

Shai's POV

I was pacing outside the station when my cellphone rang. I didn't bother checking the caller id. I answered but before I could utter even a single word Ethan began to speak very fast and panicky on the other line. "Shai, where are you? We have a big problem." I groaned, we didn't need any more problems.

"I'm at the police station with Sophie. They arrested Milo and she's trying to tell your dad that he's not the killer."

"He's not the killer-" Ethan began but I cut him off, "You think I don't know that?" I snapped. He ignored my outburst.

"He's not the killer. You remember Elizabeth's friend Maria something?" I nodded, but then remembered he couldn't see me. "Yeah, Maria Santino, what about her?" I was still pacing as we talked and a pair of cops chatting next to a cruiser were shooting me odd looks.

"Well she was arguing with Tanaki. She was trying to tell him that Elizabeth was meeting with an older guy about some internship Friday after school." I sat down on a bench outside the station's front doors, to process what he had said. "Well that's definitely news to us. Do you know who she was meeting?"

I heard him sigh, "No idea. I don't think Maria knew." I chewed on my thumb nail, trying to decide what to do. Decision. "Go talk to Maria-" But it was his turn to interrupt me.

"Do you really think she'll tell me anything? We're not exactly friends, Shai."

"Think on your feet. Come up with something. We need to know who she was meeting." I heard glass shattering from somewhere inside the building.

"What was that?" Ethan sounded even more anxious than before.

"I gotta go." I hung up on his sputtered protest. Not ten seconds later, Sophie was 'escorted' out the front doors by two cops. She was fuming.

"I'm guessing it didn't work." She just scowled in reply. "What now." She finally hissed, her voice tight with fury. I thought back to our lead. It wasn't much, and even if it was anything it could turn out to be irrelevant. "I might have something…" I admitted.

Her angry expression melted fast and was replaced with one of relief, curiosity, and some slight expectancy. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was an incredibly long, long shot. Instead I told her to follow me and we practically ran along the road towards the school. I didn't explain what I had in mind to her. We didn't have anything concrete yet.

"Why do the police think Milo is a suspect anyway?" I asked after a good five minutes of silence. Sophie scowled again. "I don't know." She paused for a second then continued. "They let me talk to him for a few minutes and he didn't tell me anything important, he just sat there and stared at me." I didn't know how to reply so I didn't. "He did say something though." Sophie was suddenly extremely hesitant, like she wasn't so sure she wanted to tell me this, yet. I looked at her expectantly and she grudgingly continued.

"He looked me right in the eye and said…something about bad things." I stopped dead and turned to look at Sophie face to face. "Did he say anything else?" I asked urgently, thinking of Pamela and how weird she was acting in the girl's bathroom.

"No he just looked me straight in the eye and he said, 'Bad things are going to happen, Sophie. Very bad things.'"

I tried to ignore the ice that seemed to have settled in my veins but I couldn't. Pamela's and Milo's words kept spinning through my mind.

 _I told the police bad things_

 _Bad things are going to happen, Sophie. Very bad things._

Were these 'bad things' enough to get Elizabeth killed?

 **Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who is reading. I know the characters are kind of hard to keep up with and to those of you who read Chosen Destiny I know this more of an independent story than an actual sequel, but I'm trying. On another note, for all you Harry Potter fans who are reading I'm working on a HP fanfiction. It's on my story list. It would mean so much to me if you would check it out. Thanks again.**

 **-Mockingjay**


	5. Chapter 5

Ethan's POV

Tuesday was dull and uneventful.

Not.

Nearly everyone was buzzing about Milo's arrest. At first I noticed quite a few people seriously doubted that he had done it.

 _What reason did he have to kill Elizabeth; I don't even think they knew each other; the police are just desperate to close the case; etc._

However as the day wore on it seemed these doubtfuls were becoming less and less. Indeed, by lunch it seemed that not a single person believed Milo to be innocent.

 _You know he was always weird; he's probably been planning it for ages; lucky they locked him up, he was probably going to kill another girl; I heard a rumor that they were secretly dating, maybe she tried to dump him._

On and on the chatter went, it was making me slightly sick. The only thing keeping me from lashing out at these people was the fact that Sophie was doing enough of it to cover for everyone from Anubis house. Anyone caught talking about Milo within earshot of Sophie became the victim of a rather colorfully worded tirade from her. It became the job of all the other Anubis kids to keep her restrained whenever this happened. Consequentially by lunch nearly everyone was skirting away from Sophie as though _she_ might start killing. I was a bit surprised by her rage; I've known her for years and I always thought she was very nice. However, when I imagined people accusing Jade of murder I saw myself acting much like Sophie was.

Sophie, Alex, Jade, and I were sitting in the library at the end of our lunch period catching up on homework. Scattered around the room were clusters of students all talking in whispers and sending quick glances our way. I knew only all too well what they were talking about. Jade looked like she was concentrating very hard on her chemistry book, Alex was frowning slightly, and Sophie was staring hard at her history notes without moving her eyes. It was obvious the others had caught on to the whispers as well.

We worked in silence for another two minutes. The gossiping continued. Sophie looked just about ready to snap when the fire alarm blared through the relative quiet. Fully aware that we didn't normally have drills during lunch periods, people rushed for the exit in a panicking mob. We didn't hesitate to join them.

In the crowded hallways I was shunted from side to side as we all hurried to get out. Up ahead I spotted the classroom that had been set up as a temporary investigation headquarters. As I passed I noticed that it was vacant, not a soul to be seen. I passed the classroom, ducked into the boy's bathroom, and waited for the stream to thin slightly before I reemerged in the hall and slid into the investigation room.

On the classroom's whiteboard were several photographs, bagged pieces of evidence, and pieces of red yarn connecting various random leads. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't examine the board, someone could spot me at any second, I needed to be quick. A quick glance at the teacher's desk showed a pale manila case file, half as thick as a phone book. I rifled through it to be sure it was Elizabeth's before hurriedly stowing it away in my bag.

I was out of the building and safely hidden in the crowd not ten seconds later…

….

The entire school milled about on the lawn for a good twenty minutes before we were released to go back to our houses. No matter where I searched in the crowd I couldn't find Shai, Jade, Kiara, or Alex. However I did briefly spot David who was very happy he got another day to hand in his English essay. While we talked I convulsively clutched my bag tighter, pushing the file further down. Finally I headed back to Anubis knowing I'd find at least one of them there.

I bee-lined straight for the girl's corridor the second I entered the house. When I entered Kira and Shai's room I was surprised to hear them laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked, grinning despite myself. Laughs had been rare the last five days. "Kiara ran faster than I've ever seen her run in my life when that alarm went off." Shai managed to choke out between laughs. Kiara was blushing a fiery red, but still laughing. When they finally calmed down, I reached into my bag for the file and I pulled it out with a flourish. Both girls gaped at me for a full minute. "Is that-it's not…is it?" Kiara finally spluttered. My grin widened. "It is." I told her. Shai took the file from my hand as tentatively as if it was made from glass. She seemed to come abruptly back to reality. "We need to get the others in here. This could be the key to proving Milo's innocent."

Kiara left the room before either of us could even blink. Shai was looking from the file to me then back to the file again. "You took this from the classroom during all the chaos didn't you?" She was tracing the case number on the file's cover, anxious to start looking through it. I didn't bother answering, she already knew it was true. "We can't keep it. They'll start looking for whoever took it and it won't take much to trace back to you." She finally looked up at me, her green eyes searching mine as if looking for any sign of an objection. I remained quiet; I just sat next to her on her bed and took her hand in mine. She sighed and rested her head against my shoulder.

We've been dating since July of last summer, after we fought an army of vengeful spirits and a psychopath that had a knack for coming back from the dead. It's hard to do things like that with someone and not ending up getting close.

Of course at that moment the door opened and the rest of Sibuna trouped in, interrupting one of the few moments we've had alone since the start of the school year.

When everyone got settled in their usual spaces around the room Shai stood up and showed everyone the file. The investigation commenced

Kiara's POV

At the sight of the file everyone grew excited, finally some answers. The file consisted of reports, diagrams, and photos. Then we got down to the nitty gritty.

"Why are there no interviews or Milo's interrogation notes in there?" Alex asked. Shai was still leafing through the papers, looking for anything we might've missed. Ethan answered instead. "They probably had those out to look at them closer, after, all statements are the only thing they've got against him at the moment."  
"How do you get a warrant to arrest someone with just other people's word for it?" I couldn't help but ask, that didn't seem very reliable.

"One statement definitely wouldn't be enough…three or four maybe… but if you've got, say, half a dozen people convinced that someone's guilty, they kinda have to look into it." Shai answered, distractedly. Finally she closed the file and tossed it onto her bed. "Let's gather what we've learned." She looked at the list of questions we had already written down.

" _ **Who?**_ We still don't know that." She mused softly. " _ **What?**_ Okay what killed her?" When she stood in front of us, organizing what we learned, she seemed strangely impressive. Like a real detective. Jade pushed herself to her feet retrieved a couple sheets of paper from the stack and flopped back down to sit on the floor. She skimmed the sheets for a few seconds. "No blunt force trauma, the wounds weren't fatal, no broken bones, or internal bleeding. The only thing weird is trace amounts of Hydrogen Peroxide."

Shai furrowed her brow in confusion. "Hydrogen Peroxide dissolves blood. I suppose if it were to be injected into the blood stream it could kill you. I'm not sure how fast though. Was there an injection mark?" Jade shook her head, "Not that I can see." Shai seemed to think hard for a moment, "A professional could do an injection without leaving an obvious mark."

"That doesn't help us much," I told her, "There's a hospital, a clinic, and paramedics at the fire station within a five mile radius, plus the school nurse. That must be a couple hundred people who could pull that off."

"What weapon made the other wounds?" Ethan asked, peering over his sister's shoulder to read the autopsy report himself. Now it was Jade's turn to look confused, "A screwdriver." She answered, sounding bewildered, "A Philips' head."

"You said you don't know how fast Hydrogen Peroxide kills," Alex said to Shai, "Maybe it was taking too long so the killer finished her off the old fashioned way."

"The wounds didn't kill her," Ethan reminded him. "Then what's the point of stabbing her with a screwdriver if that didn't kill her?" I asked. "Some sort of sick satisfaction, the sexual release that made the killing worth it. Or possibly just plain anger." Shai offered.

Jade spoke up again, reading something else from the autopsy paper, "The police considered Elizabeth's death a blitz attack. An angry outburst that turned lethal." I snorted showing my disbelief.

"There's no way this wasn't preplanned at least a little. I mean who just carries around Hydrogen Peroxide, a syringe and a screw driver with them." The others nodded their agreement.

"Elizabeth was still wearing her school uniform, and she was killed at around 9 o'clock..." Shai was back to staring at the board. "That doesn't make any sense, the first thing most of us do when we get out of school is change out of our uniforms. Factor in that she was meeting someone after school and it's downright suspicious." She turned to face us all again. "It's more important now than it ever was to figure out who Elizabeth met Friday." We all remained silent, staring.

"I think whoever it was kidnapped and killed Elizabeth."


	6. Chapter 6

Shai's POV

That night I dragged Ethan and Kiara along to Isis House to talk to Maria. "This doesn't seem like a good idea." Ethan muttered as I knocked on the door. "Ethan's right. What if Maria tells Tanaki that we're asking questions? Isn't conducting our own investigation illegal?" Kiara sounded nearly as anxious as Ethan. "It's not illegal," I assured them, "As long as we don't tamper with evidence or disrupt their investigation."

"Like stealing a case file?" Kiara hissed. "Okay, that was illegal." I admitted. "But Ethan's the only one going to jail for that." He opened his mouth but was interrupted by the front door swinging open.

Standing in the doorway was Pamela. I faltered and took a few steps back; I had forgotten that she lived in this house along with Elizabeth and Maria. Ethan and Kiara threw me confused looks. I still hadn't told them about Pamela's episode, or Milo's warning to his sister for that matter.

"We're here to-" Kiara started but Pamela cut her off. "I see you haven't forgotten our little talk, Shai?" Pamela's eyes were trained on me; they had that same unnaturally hard look as they did in the bathroom.

"No," I replied through gritted teeth, "I haven't. Listen we're here to talk to someone, it's urgent." She sighed. "Everything's always _urgent_ with you guys isn't it?" Before I could find an appropriate response she opened the door wider. "Maria's not here, but you can wait inside for her." Ethan, Kiara, and I shared an anxious glance before trouping into the house.

"How'd you know we wanted to talk to Maria?" Ethan asked, in a would-be-casual voice. Pamela simply smiled at him; it looked more like a grimace. "Because Elizabeth's dead, and I've told your friend here all you need to know, Maria's the only one left with anything for you guys." And with that, she disappeared up a rickety wooden staircase.

The remaining two both turned to look at me, arms crossed, determined looks on their faces. "When did you talk to Pamela?" Kiara demanded. I glanced up the stairs to make sure she wasn't listening, "Yesterday," I answered in a whisper. "What did she say?" Ethan hissed, after an apprehensive scan of the stairs as well. I shook my head. "I'll tell you later." Which is my way of saying, _I hope you forget in a few hours so I don't have to tell you._

They frowned but didn't argue. A loud creak of a floor board shattered the silence. "I'm going for a walk!" Pamela shouted, I assumed to whoever the caretaker or house mother in Isis was. She descended the stairs and was out the door without a single glance at us.

I was just wondering where in the world she was going when I noticed a mischievous smile spread across Kiara's face. "Maria and Elizabeth were roommates, weren't they?" She asked. Ethan and I shared a look, then we both nodded. Her smile widened. "There might be something about whoever Elizabeth was meeting in their room."

I considered what she was suggesting carefully for a moment, "Are you saying," I said slowly, "That we should search their bedroom?" I was hoping I had somehow interpreted her wrong. But by the way she was still smiling I knew I didn't.

"Kiara, we came here to talk to Maria, not to rob her." I couldn't keep the slightly accusing note out of my voice. She rolled her eyes. "We're not _robbing_ , we're _investigating_." Without further ado, she began to climb the stairs to the girls' corridor. I sighed in exasperation before following her. "This is exactly the kind of _investigating_ that _is_ illegal." I reminded her. She just ignored me and continued on. I sighed again.

We snuck around in the upstairs hallway for about five minutes before Kiara swung open one of the doors and slipped inside. Ethan and I followed. The room was similar to mine and Kiara's. Two beds, two wardrobes, a window, posters and photos covering the walls. The only real difference was the fact that one side of the room looked like it had been ransacked. The police had torn apart Elizabeth's side of the room.

Everything on the bed had been thrown around; drawers had been emptied (on the floor by the looks of it), the wardrobe was opened and its contents were spilling out, random papers littered the floor. The other side of the room wasn't nearly as messy but still had the appearance of recent use.

We stood there for a minute taking in the scene. "Wow." Kiara muttered, which pretty much summed it up. "Where do we start?" I asked her. She shot me a sideways look, "You guys are the detectives, I just saw an opportunity and took it; you do the rest." I glared at her before simply shrugging and starting to pick through the mess, Ethan joined me, and Kiara stood at the door and kept a look out. For ten minutes we worked in silence before I noticed something strange.

I gingerly moved aside a heavy winter coat to reveal a worn messenger bag. Elizabeth's school bag. "Hey Ethan." He looked up, "Did the file ever say what Elizabeth had on her when she died?" He seemed to think hard for a minute, he shook his head. "I don't think so. But we didn't see anything at the crime scene. Just her." He said the last part very quietly. I knew it was hard to think about Elizabeth the way she was at the crime scene, bloody, cold…dead. It was easier to think about her the hours before she died than it was to think about her as a corpse.

He seemed to come to his senses right then, "Why? Did you find something?" His questions knocked me out of my stupor. "Yeah, Elizabeth's bag. She must not've had it on her when she died." Kiara stuck her head back into the room, looking interested. "Did she drop off her bag before going back for her meeting?" She asked. "It's possible," I shrugged, "But why bother?" Instead of answering Kiara resumed her job as look out.  
 _It's probably not important_ I told myself. But even as I thought that I opened the bag and began to search through it. Inside were a few folders, notebooks, a handful of mechanical pencils, and a small compact mirror. I was just about to toss the bag back into the mess when I located a small rip in the seam. I stuck my hand into it and I pulled out her phone. "Guys!" I breathed, "Look, she left her phone here! The police didn't take it!"

Kiara abandoned her spot at the door and Ethan stopped his searching to crowd around the beat up messenger bag. I powered the phone on to find it locked by a keypad password screen. "Of course." I muttered, my excitement deflating. I was about to shove the phone back into her bag when Kiara suddenly cried out, "Wait!" I paused and threw her a questioning look. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before saying, "Try 4444" Dubious, I typed in the password and Elizabeth's cell beeped as it unlocked. "Kiara you're a genius!" Ethan and I both exclaimed at the same time. The blonde simply shrugged, "She used to sit next to me in math and she would always text in class, I guess I subconsciously memorized her password." I beamed at her. Then I opened Elizabeth's phone and checked her messages, her inbox had been cleared. Not in the slightest bit disheartened I checked her call logs to find that she had three phone calls from the same unsaved number. I stored the number in my phone.

Then we heard a door slam downstairs. We quickly tossed Elizabeth's phone back into her bag and fled from the room. We tiptoed as quickly as we could without making a sound to the top of the staircase. Standing just inside the door was Pamela, an unreadable expression on her face.

"As intriguing whatever you've found surely is, I think you'll find the police have made quite a discovery." She smiled that strange grimace like smile again disappeared through a door on her left.

We sprinted down the stairs and out the door, thinking we'd need to look for signs of the cops. Not at all. Dozens of police cruisers, news vans, ambulances, and even a fire truck were parked around the front entrance of the school. We said nothing, we just set off at a sprint and tore across the school lawn towards the chaos. When we arrived a small crowd had already congregated around the yellow police perimeter. We wove our way to the front and we immediately saw what Pamela meant. Kiara dropped to her knees, Ethan swore loudly, and I stumbled sideways into him.

A rope was tied around the school crest on the top of the wrought iron entrance gate. At the other end of the rope, tied by the ankles, clearly dead, hung a gruesome sight. Short and Slim, dressed in the school uniform, long black hair brushing the ground, hazel eyes wide and staring, with deep gashes just like Elizabeth's.

I couldn't believe my eyes

This was a nightmare

It's not possible. Maria couldn't be dead, she just couldn't be.

 **Dun, Dun, Dunnnn! This is getting more and more like an episode of** _ **Criminal Minds**_ **, or maybe** _ **Law & Order**_. **The kids definitely have a problem now, don't they? Keep reading…Or else.**

 **-Mockingjay**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone, I'm back! Yes so it's been awhile, give me a second while I check to see just how long…okay so about a month. There's no really good reason why I haven't been writing, I've gotten more support than I definitely thought I would and I had most of the story preplanned out to avoid an unexpected hiatus like this. I guess the best excuse I could really give you is that I've been widening my abilities as a writer. I've been putting a lot of time and effort into learning how to make good stories that I had little time to actually do that. But I'm back now(Yay). So here you go…Enjoy!**

?'s POV

I stared at the scene in front of me…so many faces, so many witnesses, so many… _opportunities._ I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Opportunity was something I always valued, something I always made sure to never take for granted. I jumped on every opportunity as it was presented to me; and because of that I am where I am today. However, opportunity is almost always a direct result of luck, and in this world sometimes you have to make your own luck. And consequentially you have to make your own opportunities.

Like pulling that fire alarm. That was an opportunity I created…I caused that panic…those kids were so afraid at first…so scared of the horrors that they thought awaited within…but the real monster was outside, waiting for you to walk right into its clutches…but they didn't need to be afraid; there was only one lamb this lion was after.

And there she was; dark hair, bright eyes, short and slim. She was my prey. My weak antelope I had to weed away from the herd of strong ones. My next victim.

 _Patience_ , I reminded myself. _Let her come to you._

And come she did. Because she trusted me. Why did she trust me? Who knew.

"Do you think this has something to do with Elizabeth?" She whispered frantically to me. "Yes," I whispered back, unlike hers my voice was calm, "I do. Come with me." She didn't hesitate, she followed me blindly, a moth to flame.

And just like that Maria Santino was mine, and all that she knew would die with her.

 **Okay so I'm currently trying out this James Patterson kind of POV swap with the villain. I personally love it as part of a story but as usual I much prefer your guys input. So tell me of you want this to be a regular this.**

 **P.S. They might just give you hints about who the killer is…**

 **-Mockingjay**


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Yes I know this isn't an actual chapter, and I'm very sorry for getting you all excited over this Author's Note. But, in my defense, it's a very important AN.

So this story is pretty much half over. (Before you start to judge me, just note that all of the next chapters will be a lot longer!). But I do want to write a trilogy. But, I've been so bad about uploading consistently and I'm going to be so busy within the next few months that I want help from you guys to write the third story.

I would really appreciate it if you guys could send prompts of what you want to see for a third story, and whoever comes up with the "winning" prompt, I would really like it if you would be willing to help me write it.

Yes, that's pretty much it. Thank you so much for reading (and hopefully participating). Just PM a prompt if you want to and be patient the next chapter will be out by this weekend.

 _-Mockingjay_


	9. Chapter 9

Shai's POV

I was up and dressed before dawn the next morning. The real problem was getting Ethan up. "Wake up!" I hissed in his ear for the fourth time. He mumbled a couple unpleasant four letter words and rolled over. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him, "Get up!" No response. I sighed, grabbed his leg and tried to drag him out of bed; instead I tripped over a pair of sneakers and fell flat on my back with a thud. Ethan rolled over and squinted at me, "Why are you on the floor?"

I rolled my eyes. "Looking for Atlantis. Why do you think I'm on the floor?" I got up as he checked his phone. "It's 4:30 in the morning. What are we doing, breaking and entering? Robbing a bank? Invading Russia?"

"Very funny. Now get dressed."

"Fine." He got out of bed and dug around in his wardrobe. He shot me a look. "Can I have a minute?" I put my hands up in surrender, "Fine. But if you go back to bed I'm bringing in the hose."

I closed the door on his reply

15 minutes later I was outback trying to untangle the hose. "I thought you were joking." I heard Ethan say behind me.

"When will you learn that I go through with my threats." I turned around the face him. "I was hoping I'd be an exception." He said with a cheeky smile. I smiled at him, stepped closer, and sprayed him with the hose.

"Thanks now I'm going to get hypothermia."

I shrugged. "Not my problem." I put the hose away and headed towards the road. He jogged to catch up with me. "So what are we doing so early in the morning?"

"We're going to visit Gary Coscomb."

"Right…Gary Coscomb…umm…Who's Gary Coscomb?"

"A PI that lives about a mile and a half away, down by the old mill." Ethan looked confused. "A PI?"

"A private investigator."

He rolled his eyes, "I know what PI is, I wanna know why we need him?" I dug out Elizabeth's cell phone from my sweatshirt pocket and handed it to him, "It was the number on Elizabeth's phone. I called it. The voicemail said it belonged to a guy named Gary Coscomb. I looked him up, Gary's a local PI with an admirable satisfaction rate."

"Why did Elizabeth need a PI?" Ethan asked.

"That's what we're gonna find out."

We purposefully took the long way down to Coscomb's place, it was Ethan who figured he'd be a bit more receptive if we didn't go banging on his door at 5 in the morning. We killed some more time by buying coffee at a local gas station. The inside was all fluorescent lighting and metal shelves full of room temperature drinks, fatty snacks and cheap booze. In the chrome of the coffee machine I saw the guy at the register watching us intently, he didn't say a word as we checked out. We didn't linger after we paid.

We made our way straight to Gary's building after that. I was growing impatient and the gas station guy had made me antsy. "What if he's not up yet?" Ethan asked as I scanned the buzzer list for Coscomb's apartment number. "Then we'll catch him off guard."

"And what if he doesn't talk to us? He doesn't have to."

"Then he can talk to the police." I called over my shoulder as I made my way up the rusty metal stairs. Ethan trailed after me in silence as we climbed to the third floor and knocked on apartment C5. The dirty gray paint was peeling and the carpet underneath was stained and frayed. "I thought you said this guy was a successful PI? He's getting paid, why is he still living in this dump?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it's a cover. He's living inconspicuously. Under the radar."

Suddenly the door swung open on creaky hinges. A figure stood in the doorway. He was…well…unimpressive. Short, doughy, straw colored, thining hair. His eyes were a dull, muddy brown and he was wearing an old bathrobe along with glasses slightly askew on his beak-like nose. "Gary Coscomb?" I asked uncertainly. He eyed me over the rim of his crooked glasses and opened a mouth of yellowing teeth. "Yes." He said in a wheezy voice, and judging from the almost overwhelming smell of cigars floating out from his apartment, he was a regular smoker. "What do you kids want?"

"We want to ask you some questions?" I figured there was no reason to beat around the bush. He gave me a condescending smile. "I'm sure there's nothing of importance you kids need to ask me." He went to close the door but was stopped by Ethan putting his foot in the doorjam. "A client you were investigating for is dead and unless you want to talk to the police you can tell us what you know." His warning seemed to catch the PI's attention. Coscomb's smile remained fixed but strained. "And what client are you talking about?"

"Elizabeth Castor." I answered. He shot Ethan and me a sharp look then opened the apartment door to let us.

The apartment was small and cramped. A miniscule kitchen was stuffed in a corner and the rest of the room was taken up by an old livingroom set meant for a much larger space. The room smelled like dust and take out. The only window was covered by a dark curtain, all the light in the room was artificial and weak. "What do you know about Elizabeth Castor?" Coscomb asked us as he closed the door with a click. "More than you obviously." I told him sharply. He scowled. I continued. "Elizabeth is dead and has been for the past week. She was murdered. You're a PI how did you not know that." He sank down into an overstuffed armchair and motioned for us to take a seat as well. We sat on a musty couch and waited. And waited, the guy said nothing.

"How did you not know Elizabeth was dead?" I repeated, "It's been on every local news station and even a few national ones…"

Gary gave a weak, breathy laugh. "I don't trust the media for information, unlike all you kids who seem to rely on it. I don't watch the television, nor do I listen to the radio. I don't even own a computer. And you can probably guess that I have no one I would consider a friend-"

"Except Elizabeth. Your number was on her phone." I cut in. "I saw Elizabeth as a colleague." He responded stiffly. "I met her about six months ago when I was visiting a friend up at the school. She knew who I was, I have no idea how. I stopped being a PI years ago, anyway, she wanted my help. Elizabeth wanted to be a journalist, and by the time she met me she already had quite the case built up. She just wanted my advice at first, and occasionally some third party perspective on some evidence that she had found. That was it, that was all we ever talked about,"

"What case had she built up?" I asked quickly. He squared his shoulders and looked me dead in the eye. "I don't think that's any of your business."

"With all due respect," Ethan interjected. It was the first thing he had said since he walked in the door. "Elizabeth is dead, and whatever case she was building could tell us who did it?"

"If it's so goddamn important then why are you children here and not the police!" He yelled angrily.

 _He's angry,_ I thought. _This can go either way. He can become careless and let something slip or he can completely shut down._ I really hoped it was the first option because we had no other leads to go on, all we had was whatever this guy told us.

"The police aren't going the right way with this investigation." Ethan replied calmly. "And at this rate by the time they get on the right track the killer will be long gone…"

"Or will have killed again." I added. "Elizabeth isn't the only one dead. Her friend, Maria Sanchez, was found murdered on the school grounds last night. And if this guy isn't stopped more people will die. Now what case was Elizabeth building?"

Gary sighed and slumped back in his armchair. "She was right," He whispered softly. "What?" Ethan asked.

"She was right!" He yelled again. "She was being threatened, and she was scared. I just thought she was being paranoid. 'Being threatened is part of the job,' I told her. So she kept digging, she even planned to confront the guy…Now she's dead."

"Who was she planning to confront?" I asked gently. "Some cop. Some corrupt cop she was going to expose." I could tell he was getting upset but I had one more question. "Did she ever confront the cop?"

"I have no idea." He responded quietly. He stood up abruptly and disappeared into a side room. Before Ethan and I could exchange confused looks, he was back carrying a small cardboard box. "This is everything I knew about Elizabeth's research." He said gravely. "Take it." He handed the box to Ethan. "And expose the son of a bitch who killed that girl."

It was a promise I was happy to make.


	10. Chapter 10

Shai's POV

When we got back to the school later that morning we saw the area swarmed with cop cars. No surprise there. So we B-lined straight to Anubis House, but when we got there we saw a police car parked right outside. We shared a mystified look. None of the other houses had cops out front.

"I'm gonna go stash this in the bike shed." I told Ethan, taking the box from him. "I don't want the cops digging through it before we've had a chance to see what's in here." I explained before he could ask.

"You want me to wait for you?"

I turned my back and headed for the shed. "I'm a big girl, I think I can handle it." I reassured him.

He disappeared into the house and I went to the bike shed. I snooped around after about 5 minutes before I just decided to hide the box behind the wooden plank covering the window. It wasn't a very good hiding spot but I was counting on the fact that I could come back and get it when the cops were done with us.

I went into the house and was immediately intercepted by Eddie. Without a word, he grabbed my arm and pulled me up the stairs into Doug's office, ignoring my protests the entire way up.

He sat me down in the chair and closed the door with a loud slam. Before I could say anything Eddie took a simple voice recorder out of his pocket and set it on the desk.

"Where were you earlier this morning?" Eddie asked me. I sent a dubious look at the blinking red light on top of the recorder, when he made no move to explain I realized what was going on. "This is an interrogation isn't it?" I asked him. After a moment of silence he nodded. "Yes. Now answer the question, or I will take you into the station." I leaned back into the chair. "On what grounds?" I asked trying to keep my voice level. "Obstruction of justice." He answered quickly.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Eddie-" I began, but he cut me off. "This is a formal investigation and I am Detective Miller." I reached over and shut off the recorder. "Eddie," I started again. He didn't interrupt me this time. "Why are you doing this? What can you possible gain from interrogating me?"

"Tell me where you were early this morning, and I'll tell you." After another beat of silence he added. "And we've already got the answer out of Ethan so we'll know if you're lying."

"We were at an apartment building down by the old mill." I relented. When he crossed his arms expectantly I told him the rest. "We were meeting a PI, who was in contact with Elizabeth before she died." Eddie nodded. "Tanaki's already on his way down to talk to him. The reason I really need to talk to you is because we searched the house." I opened my mouth but he cut me off. "And we found your investigation board in your room. As well as the stolen case file." I opened my mouth again, but he plowed on. "Ethan admitted to stealing the file." This time I burst out before he could stop me. "He didn't do it. I did." It was kind of tradition for us to protect each other. Eddie gave me a small smile. "I know your lying."

I leaned back in the chair, anxious. Where was all this going? Finally Eddie pocketed the now inactive voice recorder, "But that's all beside the point." My nerves spiked. "Why?" I asked, what if they were gonna accuse us of something worse, like murder?

Eddie sighed. "I'm willing to forget about the file and any other felonies you might have committed along the way as long as you promise me something."

"What can I possibly promise you?"

"I want you to back off your investigation."

I couldn't help it, "Afraid we'll figure it out before you?" I asked with a laugh. Eddie frowned. "This isn't a joke. I don't think you understand the situation you'll end up putting you and your friends in." It was my turn to frown. "I think we understand perfectly well what we're doing."

Eddie stood up and paced around the room. "This guy is dangerous. He's willing to kill, brutally at that."

I stood up too. "So was Rufus." I pointed out. "And I think we handled that fine thank you very much." Eddie turned to face me, his face hard. "This is different."

"How!" I shouted. "You can't rely on being the 'Chosen One' this time! You're not invincible and neither is my son!"

I stopped myself from shouting back. Instead I stayed quiet for a minute and collected my temper and my thoughts. "I understand you're worried," I said slowly. "But we can't give up now. We're so close."

"I don't care if you know the guy's name. I don't care if you know his address. I don't care if you know his blood type. Stop. Leave it to the police."

"But-"I started, his phone ringing interrupted me. He turned his back and answered the phone. "On my way." He said finally and without another word he left the office. "Eddie!" I called chasing after him. He ignored me. "Eddie!" I yelled again. He was at the bottom of the stairs and I was at the top.

Eddie was almost at the door. "A police officer killed Elizabeth!" I finally shouted. He continued out the door without a backwards glance. But my shouts hadn't gone completely unnoticed, all the other residents of Anubis had come in from the living room and were looking up at me. I spotted Milo amongst them. I'd almost forgotten they had let him go today.

Looking down at them I knew what had to be done. As long as this killer was at large every one of them was in danger. Eddie hadn't given me time to promise him that I would stop our investigation, and it didn't seem like Eddie cared about theory.

There was only one thing we could do.

I gave Ethan a telling look and he nodded.

Not ten minutes later we were all sitting in our usual circle in the bike shed. The cardboard box sat in the middle. If we were going to solve this we needed all hands on deck, and we needed all the information we could get. So I came clean about my bathroom encounter with Pamela. No one seemed very concerned about it. "Pam's been weird lately. I'm sure she was just upset about Elizabeth. It was probably nothing." Kira offered. I just nodded. Pamela was a knot I could untie later, right now Sibuna was looking at me expectantly waiting to open the box. I allowed myself a small smile and reached over to open it.

We all leaned in to see what was inside.

My heart jumped to my throat.

My stomach twisted in knots.

I heard Kira audibly gasp.

We sat silent for a whole minute; processing.

The box was empty.


	11. Chapter 11

Kira's POV

"Impossible." Ethan whispered in disbelief. He gave Shai an almost pleading look, "I carried that box the entire way back, there's no way it was empty when Gary gave it to us." She looked just as confused as he was. "Maybe…" Jade intercepted angrily. "Someone took everything out of the box, because you left all this evidence where absolutely anyone could find it!"

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't want the cops confiscating all of it." She shot back. "At least we'd know where it was if the cops had it. At least it'd be with someone who could use it to arrest Elizabeth's killer."

"Hey!" I shouted breaking up the argument. "Maybe the police do have it. They could've searched the bike shed and found the box. Let's not jump to conclusions."

"Then why wouldn't they take the box too?" Alex asked. I shrugged. "Maybe we can go back to Gary. He should be able to tell us some of what was in the box." Shai offered. "The police will be watching the house," I told her. "They found out about our investigation. They want us to stop."

"So what?" She demanded. "So we could be arrested." Jade answered for me. "Face it Shai." Alex said quietly. "There's nothing more we can do." We all stood up and she looked at us in alarm. "So you're all just giving up?" Anger was clear in her voice. "All of you?"

None of us answered.

"Ethan?" She pleaded to him. He shook his head. "I'm sorry." He muttered. And with that we all turned and left, leaving her behind with an empty box.

 **Milo's POV**

I was walking to the bike shed that night after dinner. The police had let me go the night before. Too bad it took another girl to die for them to realize I'm innocent. I needed some air after those cramped cells and a ride around campus seemed a good idea.

As I went into the shed I spotted a figure sitting cross-legged in the corner, a cardboard box at her side. "Hasn't anybody told you it's not safe to be out alone?" I asked her, leaning against the doorframe. She didn't say anything. "Trudy was in hysterics when you didn't show up for dinner. She was convinced you were kidnapped. She was about to call the cops but your entourage told her you were fine."

"My entourage?" She finally asked. I nodded. "You know your friends who follow you around like a bunch of lost puppies."

"It's not their fault. I really don't ever give them a chance to do anything else."

"Looks like they've finally had enough."

"Looks like it." I shook my head, "What are you doing out here?"

"Accepting defeat." She muttered motioning to the empty box. I snorted. She looked at me for the first time since I walked in here. "What?" She asked, a slight defensiveness to her voice. "You're so overdramatic." I told her as I tossed the box to the other side of the shed and sat next to her. "Well what else am I supposed to do?" She was definitely defensive now. "They gave up on me. There's nothing else to do."

"For them." Was my only answer. She looked at me suspiciously. "What do you mean?" I shrugged. "Well just because your puppies are gone doesn't mean you've lost everything." She still looked guarded. "Do something yourself for a change." She watched me closely for a few minutes, then she gave me a small smile. "Good idea. Thanks Milo."

She got up and was almost out the shed when she suddenly turned around. "Hey…" She said slowly. "Can I ask you something about Elizabeth?"

"Helping you twice in one day? You're going to owe me Rutter." I paused for a minute. "Ask away?"

"How close were you with Elizabeth?" She asked timidly. "Close enough."

"Enough for what?"

"To know what bad things were going to happen."

"But what kind of bad thi-" She started, but I cut her off. "You should get back to the house."

After a minute of consideration she nodded, scooped the box up and left. When I heard the shed door close I sighed.

 **Ethan's POV**

I ran into Shai as she was coming into the hall. Or rather she ran into me. She was still clutching onto the empty box. She tried to shove around me, but I stepped in front of her and blocked her from going up the stairs. "You okay?" I asked her. "Fine." Her face held no trace of emotion. She tried to step around me again.

"You missed dinner." I tried again, blocking her off for the second time. "Not hungry." Her face was still as stone. I placed a hand on her shoulder, "Listen," I started, "I'm sorry about not helping you back there but…there's nothing else we can do."

"But there is something." She spoke with a kind of angry desperation. "We can go to Gary. He might not have anything in writing anymore but he has to know something right off the bat about whoever Elizabeth was looking into." I sighed. I led her into the living room where the rest of the house was gathered around the TV set. An overly made-up news reporter was talking briskly into her microphone, behind her was the rundown apartment building where Gary lived.

"Investigators were called to the Mill Side apartment building at approximately 11 0'clock this morning, when residents called and told police that they heard a gun-shot. Upon arrival 67 year-old Gary Coscomb was found dead in his apartment with a fatal bullet wound to his left temple. Due to the discovery of a letter addressing Gary's friends and family, Gary's death has been ruled a suicide. Next is Joseph Tailor on the economic plan purposed by the Prime Minister-" I shut the TV off and turned to look at her.

"See?" I said when she stayed silent. "Or last clue is gone. It's over." She nodded absent mindedly and left the room.

"Do you think she's gonna leave it alone?" Jade asked me. "I sure hope so." Was my only reply.

 **Shai's POV**

I couldn't sleep that night. Something was bugging me. I glanced over to where Kira was sleeping peacefully, should I wake her up? Should I talk to her and see if she could help me clear my mind. Then, unbidden, came the image of her turning her back and leaving the shed. Of all of them just leaving me alone. And then I heard Milo's voice in my head _, "Do something yourself for a change…"_

My resolve hardened. I silently got out of bed, threw on my shoes and my jacket and stole down the stairs. At the bottom I hesitated for a fraction of a second and glanced down the boy's corridor. Then I turned around and headed out the door without another backwards glance.

I was walking on the main road not five minutes later, heading for the police station.

Looking back I realize how dangerous that was. There was a killer out murdering teenage girls, and there I was walking alone in the middle of the night on a desolate road, but not a single car passed me, and before I knew it I was at the station.

I walked inside, the fluorescent lights momentarily blinding me, and I walked right into detective Tanaki, who by the looks of it was just about to leave. "Shai," He didn't bother hiding his surprise, "What are you doing here so late?" I didn't hesitate. "I have some information about the case."

He frowned slightly, "I'm sorry Shai, but if any of this has to do with your mini investigation, it wouldn't hold up in court." He went to go around me but he stopped in his tracks when he heard what I had to say next. "A police officer killed Elizabeth."

He turned around slowly to look at me. "And why do you think that?" His voice was even but his face was curious. "Gary Coscomb was helping Elizabeth look into the lives of one of your cops. And it's likely that cop killed Elizabeth to keep her quiet."

After a minute of silence Tanaki said very quietly, "I found Coscomb dead in his apartment today, it was a suicide. Perhaps it's possible he gave you some misinformation to get you off his back, and then he killed himself in case you guys gave what he told you to the police."

"But Coscomb's death wasn't a suicide." I said desperately. To be honest I wasn't sure of that yet, but the more I thought about the more I realized that's what was bugging me about the news report. His death didn't add up.

"Gary was right handed." I spoke as my brain connected the dots. "He served Ethan and me tea with his right hand…And I think he was arthritic in his left." My mind flashed back to Gary's messy apartment. I remembered a large array of pill bottles on his table. "He wouldn't have shot himself with his left hand, he would've used his right."  
"Maybe he did use his right." Tanaki offered. I shook my head. "The wound was on the left side of his head, he'd have to use his left hand, and he could've overdosed. He had plenty of pills, and it wouldn't have caused neighbors to call the cops. And-" I added sharply as the last puzzle piece clicked into place. "He didn't have friends or family to write a note to. He said so himself."

Tanaki seemed to consider all this for a few minutes. "You may be on to something." He admitted finally. "I'll look into this. But first let me take you home. It's not safe for you to walk all alone…."

 **Ethan's POV**

My phone buzzed and I squinted at my alarm clock. "2 a.m?" I groaned as I reached for my phone.

I had two three texts from Shai.

 **Meet me out by the bike shed, I need to tell you something.**

 **I know you're mad, but if you just talk to me I'll leave it alone.**

 **Please.**

I hesitated. Then against my better judgement I threw back the covers grabbed a jacket and slipped out of my room. I was halfway to the front door when I accidently kicked a small side table and something fell off it and crashed to the floor. I cursed and hurriedly picked it up, but not before Milo emerged out of his and Alex's room and looked at me bleary eyed. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Getting a snack." I invented at once. I wasn't surprised when he eyed me suspiciously, the kitchen was the other way. After a minute he went back into his room without another word. I waited a few minutes before I slipped out the front door as quietly as I could.

"Shai." I called as I began to trek across the damp lawn towards the bike shed. "Shai." I called a little louder. No answer.

I got to the bike shed and peaked around. "Shai." I called louder still. "Where are you?"

Suddenly something blunt and heavy hit the back of my head and I fell to the ground. I tried to blink the stars from my vision and I looked up. "You?" I mumbled, confused and disoriented. The object was brought heavily down against my head again, and I was out cold.


	12. Chapter 12

Ethan's POV

I woke up slowly at first. I blinked sleepily a few times, and I was vaguely aware of a incessant aching at the base of my skull. It made me dizzy to open my eyes, it seemed the world was zooming by impossibly fast. Even though my eyelids were heavy I forced myself to wake up a little more, I had a dull memory of a bad dream I didn't want to return to.

As I came fully awake, my memories came back in a tidal wave. I straightened up fast. I was sitting in the back of a car. A cage separated the front two seats from the back. I looked down and saw that I was handcuffed to my seat. I cast of glance sideways, and I saw Shai was sitting by the opposite door, she appeared to be handcuffed too. Her eyes met mine and I was a bit unnerved by the unmasked fear in them. It took a lot to scare her. I noticed a shadow of a bruise along her right cheek, and evidence of a bloody nose.

 _You okay?_ I mouthed to her. She nodded. _You?_ She mouthed back. This time I nodded.

"So you're finally up?" Came the voice of the driver. I turned my head slowly and glared at Tanaki through the rear-view mirror.

"You hurt her?" I said, anger seeping into my voice. I noticed a slight panic cross Tanaki's face. "I didn't want to." He said almost desperately. "She was struggling. I had to keep her quiet. I didn't want to hurt her, she made me." I noticed he avoided looking in Shai's direction.

"Did Elizabeth and Maria make you hurt them too?" This time there was no mistaking the terror on his face. "I had to. I had to. Please you have to understand that I had to." Before I could respond Tanaki's phone rang. He swore and pulled over to the side of the road. He grabbed his phone, and got out of the car. Probably to make sure we didn't alert whoever was calling him as to what he was doing. I took a good look around and noticed we were on a thin dirt road, thick forests surrounded us on either side. It was still pitch dark out. I couldn't even make out any stars in the sky.

"Where is he taking us?" I asked Shai. She shook her head and stared hard at the back of Tanaki's seat. "I have no idea. He's not making any sense, he keeps apologizing. To me. To Elizabeth and Maria. To Gary. To you."

"Gary? What did he know about Gary's suicide?" She shook her head again, still not looking at me. "It wasn't a suicide. Tanaki went to Gary's apartment after you told him in the interrogation where we were that morning. He finished him off, made it look like a suicide and called it in. No one thought twice about it."

"Son of a bitch." I said under my breath. Suddenly she turned to look at me, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." She whispered. Before I could ask what she was talking about, she plowed ahead. "I didn't want to text you and get you outside. He made me. I tried to tell him you didn't suspect him and that it was too risky to try and grab you too, but he threatened to go in and kill everyone in the house. I couldn't risk it. I'm s-"

"It's okay." I said quickly. I watched Tanaki hang up his phone and head back towards the car. "It's alright. You did what you had to do."

Before anything else could be said, Tanaki got back into the car, started the engine and got back on the road again.

I stared straight ahead as we drove on, to who knows where. Unbidden came the picture of my family and the last time I had gone missing. Jade had acted nonchalant, like it hadn't bothered her much, but I knew how protective she was. My parents were beside themselves.

I couldn't help but picture them all in that same panic. Only this time I didn't come home. This time I was ice cold and slashed open, just like those girls. I glanced at Shai beside me, and when I pictured her in the same position I swallowed thickly. I wasn't gonna let that happen.

I was her best friend, her boyfriend, and her Osirion. She wasn't going to die. Neither of us were.

 **Hello everyone. Yes this one is very short compared to my others but don't worry part 1 of the finale is up next and I promise it will be longer. Please leave a review. I'm currently thinking of putting this plot to original characters, and a different universe for a writing contest on another site, and I would love your feedback. Thank you so much.**

 **-Mockingjay.**


	13. Chapter 13

Milo's POV

I didn't have to be a genius to know that Ethan was up to something. So I disappeared into my room for a few minutes, and I listened closely. I heard the front door open and close.

"Way to make this easy." I said under my breath, as I slipped out of my room and headed for the front door. However, the second I walked out onto the damp lawn I knew that this wasn't going to be easy. I instantly noticed a police cruiser parked outside the house, and a horrible realization struck me. Tanaki was at the house in the middle in the night, and Ethan probably wasn't the only one outside with him.

I looked around for any sign of someone, and I spotted a shadowy figure slip around the bike shed a couple hundred yards away. In a split second decision I made my way over there quickly and quietly, I couldn't tell if it was Ethan, Tanaki, or someone else and I didn't want to take any risks.

The closer I got though, the more my nerves spiked. I reached the bike shed and leaned against the wall. On the other side I heard Ethan calling out to Shai. And then suddenly I heard a dull thud and the sound of something hitting the ground heavily. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I strained my ears. All I heard was an intelligible mumble and then another thud. There was an eerie silence after that, even the normal night-time bugs had suddenly gone quiet. Then I heard a slight whimper.

"What have I done? Oh God." I heard the panic in Tanaki's voice. I slowly crept around to the other side of the shed and peered around the corner. Ethan lay unconscious on the ground and Tanaki was bent over him apprehensively. I watched as he visibly relaxed when he saw Ethan was breathing. I slowly backed away, and when I thought I was a safe distance away I broke into a run towards the house.

Once I was inside I slammed the door shut and slumped against it. I considered calling the police, but I didn't like my credibility with the cops. So I hurried up the stairs and into Sophie's room.

I shook her awake, being a bit rougher than I probably had to be. Soon she was up and she shoved me away. "What are you doing?" She hissed angrily, reaching over to turn on her lamp. But her anger turned to alarm when she say my face. "Did something happen?" She whispered softly. I cocked my head to where Jade was sleeping on the other side of the room and she seemed to understand, she climbed out of bed and I led her out into the hall.

"Did something happen?" She repeated anxiously. I nodded, and told her as much as I could about what I had seen. She stood and gaped at me for what felt like hours. "What should we do? Should we call the cops?" She finally came to her senses.

I shook my head. "The cops won't get him in time. Besides, Tanaki probably has them wrapped around his finger. He's probably been hiding who he really is for years."

"Then what should we do? Go after him ourselves?"

"Yes." I said it quickly enough to shock me as well as her. Before she could shut me down I threw caution to the wind and pulled her back downstairs til we were outside my room. I went in, grabbed the cardboard box out from under my bed and returned in less than a minute. I explained in whispers, before she could ask anymore questions. "This is a box full of information on Tanaki. I was helping Elizabeth and a PI in town research him. We knew there was something off about him but we didn't know he was a murderer. Anyway when Elizabeth was killed and I was arrested I fully intended to tell the cops about Tanaki, but then I learned that he was in charge of the case-"

I cut off when I saw Sophie's eyes take in the words sprawled across the top of the box in black marker. _**Bad Things**_.

"It was our code for what we were up to." Realization dawned on her face. "And when I went to visit you, you told me 'bad things are going to happen' as a hint." She finished for me. I nodded. "Yes I was hoping you'd search my room and find this stuff and give it to the cops so I could be released."

"But Tanaki searched the house this morning. How'd he not see this stuff and take it?"

"He did." I answered quickly. "But he was discreet so no one would find out about him. But then I was in the bike shed and I found this," I motioned to the box. "It was either Elizabeth's or the PI's copy of our research. I think Shai and all her friends are on to Tanaki-"

"And that's why Tanaki has Ethan." She finished. I nodded. "Come on. We've wasted a lot of time. We have find Tanaki."

She followed me out the door and all the way to another one of the houses. Parked outside were two cars, a black and a grey one. I tried the doors on the grey one, it was unlocked. "Get in." I told Sophie, as I got in the driver's side. "Who's car is this?" She asked as she climbed into the passenger seat. "My friend Richard's." I answered carelessly reaching under my seat. "Luckily," I said pulling my hand out, "I know where he hides his spare key." I put the key in the ignition and started the engine.

"Where do you think Tanaki's taking them?" Sophie asked. I nodded towards the box, which I had tossed into the back seat. "His wife died about nine years ago. He has a new place now but he still owns the house they lived in while they were married. Still pays the bills on it and everything. And it's in the middle of nowhere."

"And you're confident that's where he'll take them?"

I shrugged uneasily. "It's my best guess."

"Well I hope it's right."

"Yeah," I mumbled quietly. "You and me both."

 **Shai's POV**

Tanaki drove for only a little while longer. Eventually he pulled the squad car into the driveway of a small yellow cottage. He held us at gunpoint to keep us from running away as he undid our handcuffs, then he led us in front of him towards the door of the tiny house. "Open it." Tanaki hissed to Ethan when we reached the door. The door squeaked slightly as Ethan threw it open. As we walked into the house I noticed that I was unnaturally neat. Not a thing out of place. It would be spotless if everything wasn't covered in several inches of dust, It seemed like no one had stepped foot in this house in quite a few years. The detective didn't offer a word of explanation, he simply prodded Ethan and I along the hall until we stood in front of a door at the end of the hall.

Tanaki shoved passed us to unlock the door and when he opened it I saw a set on narrow stone stairs, the hazy dawn light coming in from a window illuminated very little, the bottom was shrouded in darkness.

I threw Ethan a hesitant look, but then I felt Tanaki poke me in the back with the barrel of his Glock. I took a deep breath and slowly descended the steps, running my hand along the damp wall for balance. I heard the other two following me just a few steps behind. I couldn't see anything by the time I reached the bottom. I nearly jumped out of my skin when our captor grabbed my arm and began to lead me roughly along. It was still pitch black but Tanaki seemed to know his way around without a light. Soon he abruptly pushed Ethan and I forward and we slipped on the slimy floor. The I heard a door slam heavily shut.

Suddenly a light above us flared to life. Though it was dim it's sudden appearance made me squint. I slowly got to my feet and blinked until my eyes got used to the light.

The room we were in was small and square, but it wasn't entirely stone as I was expecting. The walls were slick, shiny, and they caught and distorted our reflections and the floor was tile. A faint smell of bleach hung about the place. I was reminded of an old asylum or the old jail cells Rufus had kept his hostages in last summer. I couldn't help the slight panic that set in. I was suddenly very claustrophobic. I spotted the heavy metal door that separated us from the rest of the basement. My claustrophobia intensified.

"This place is freaky as hell." Ethan mumbled after several long minutes of silence. I just nodded. Not fully trusting my voice.

"Maybe we can call for help?" He suggested when silence threatened to take hold again. I shook my head. "I can't." I replied as calmly as I could. "He took my phone. What about you?" I watched as he searched his pockets. "Mine too." He sighed. "This place is like an asylum." I said quietly. "Or a morgue." He responded grimly. I shuddered involuntarily. "Don't say that." I whispered.

"Don't worry, we're going to get out of here." I looked at him, surprised by the sureness in his voice. "How can you know that?" He smiled bitterly. "It's not exactly new for us to be kidnapped is it? We'll find a way out of this."

"What if our luck's run out?"

"I don't think it has." I offered a small smile. I knew he was trying to stay positive for my sake, and I was exceedingly grateful for it. "Yeah. There has to be a way out of here. We just have to find it." I agreed.

We went to either ends of the small room and we searched. For anything at all that could help us escape. But the room was surprisingly bare. "You're right." I called across the room to Ethan as I tried one of the dozen medium-sized cupboards all built individually into the wall. It was locked. "This place is just like a morgue. Look," I pointed to something in the center of the floor. "A drain."

"This is probably where he killed Elizabeth and Maria." He said, which made a lot of sense, except...

"It's strange though, I mean, this is a lot of work to make sure his kills are clean, he had to have made renovations to the room at least. But back in the car he seemed so disgusted at the idea that he killed them, he seemed like he really didn't want to. This is a lot of pre-meditation for someone who doesn't want to kill anyone."

"Do you think he's planning to kill us?" Ethan asked, slightly hesitant. I nodded. "I just don't know why he hasn't done it already, he took care of Gary pretty quickly."

We went back to looking around after that. There wasn't much more to say.

"Hey Shai look at this." Ethan called me over a good ten minutes later. I went over to find that he had managed to get some of the paneling separated a little from the original wall. But beneath there was a thick layer of foam insulation and aluminum foil. "Son of a bitch sound proofed this room, and the foil would keep cell reception from going through." I couldn't keep the frustration out of my voice. "Yeah." Ethan agreed, the grimness was back in his voice. "Guess he didn't want anyone hearing them scream."

 **Okay so yes it was really another filler chapter. But the real finale is next. So please be patient. This chapter was meant to answer some questions and tie up some lose ends so if there's anything I missed or let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks.**

 **-Mockingjay**


	14. Chapter 14

**Yes! It is finally the actual finale, no part two, no cliff hanger, this is the rest of this story. And before you read I do want to warn about a lot a language, some slight gore and a character death. So if any of that bothers you, well then you probably didn** **'t make it this far anyway. So...onto the story.**

Milo's POV

The second I pulled the car into the driveway of that small cottage I knew Sophie and I were in the right place. Tanaki's squad car was parked right out front and I saw a few lights on through the thick curtains of the house.

I sighed before unbuckling, I grabbed Sophie's hand when she went to do the same. "You're staying in the car." I told her firmly. She looked appalled at the very idea. "Bullshit I am!" She burst out, yanking her hand out of my grip. "I'm not letting you go in there with me!" I grabbed her arm again.

Looking into her eyes I didn't see any anger, just a fear so absolute that my own resolve weakened. "You don't have to do this." She whispered frantically. "You can call the police, you can stay here." I shook my head, and I replied in as reasonable tone as I could muster, "The police won't get here in time, Soph. And I've been watching this guy. I know how he works, I know what to do. This is the only way."

She took a deep breath, preparing herself, then she turned away from me and nodded. I stepped out of the car and I slowly made my way towards the house. "Milo, wait!" I turned around and there was Sophie, she had gotten out of the car and she was leaning heavily against the hood. "What if you don't come back?" I walked back until I stood square in front of her. "Soph, if I'm not out in an hour call the cops. But don't worry. You tried all you could to get me out of jail. I'm not gonna leave you, I promise." I hugged her for what felt like a long time, then I released her and watched her climb back into the car.

I tried not to think about the fact that I probably shouldn't have promised her I'd be back. I knew a lot about Tanaki, enough to expect the worse when I got inside. I shuddered at the thought.

Elizabeth and I had found a window at the back of the house that could be opened with enough effort a few weeks back, but we never actually went inside, figuring breaking and entering was a way worse charge than trespassing.

And so that's where I went, my confidence fluctuating with every step, between _this is the right thing to do_ and _this is absolutely idiotic,_ by the time I got to the window I was leaning more towards _this is the right thing to do._

I took a deep breath and gingerly eased the window up, it stopped a hair short of being all the way open. It took me a good five minutes and way more noise than what was safe to maneuver my way through the window and into the house. But now that I was finally inside I found myself in a neatly arranged dining room, I thought ruefully of the flashlight I kept in my drawer and how I should've thought to bring it. I settled on using my phone and I began to poke around the house, looking into every room for any sign of Shai, Ethan, or Tanaki.

There was nothing on the ground floor. So I went upstairs, repeating the process of looking into every room, closet, and corner, keeping my ears strained for any noise besides my own heavy breathing and thundering heart. I was just finished looking into the second to last bedroom when a door slammed downstairs. I stopped dead, trying not to make another sound.

Suddenly I heard a voice float up the stairway, cutting the palpable silence. "I know you're up there Milo. I'm going to give you a choice here, you can come down quietly and I'll let you and your sister go back to your house. Or you can be problematic and I'll just have to kill you both." I stayed where I was, not making a sound, thinking hard. I heard footsteps on the stairs "You're bluffing." I called back to him finally, I was thinking frantically, stalling. I stopped breathing for a second when I heard him laugh. "I'm not bluffing. I'm _dead_ serious. I plan on leaving this place, and even if you say anything it'll take some convincing to get the cops to believe you. I'll be long gone by then. And as for the friends you wish to save," He laughed again. "Well they already are long gone."

"You've already killed them?" I asked, starting to walk towards the stairs, fighting to keep my voice even. Glancing out the window I saw Sophie was still locked in the car, if I could just signal for her to leave this would be a lot easier. "You don't sound too distraught by this news." Tanaki's tone was amused, he was playing with me like a toy. And until I could think of a way out of this I had no choice but to let him. I waved my arms trying to get Sophie's attention, finally she looked up, confusion clear on her face. 'Cops' I mouthed. 'Go! Now!' I composed myself, as I watched her clamber into the drivers seat, I weighed my words carefully before saying, "I'm just surprised is all, you held Maria and Elizabeth much longer before you killed them. I guess having two captives was too much of a challenge for you."I called to him. Tanaki had finally reached the top of the stairs, and I was slightly unnerved by the look on his face when I saw him.

His expression was calm and collected, but his eyes were fearful and he looked around in all different directions as though he thought he was going to be ambushed at any second.

When he saw me by the window he smiled, but every other aspect of his expression was anything but joyful. His eyes were still terrified and his hands fidgeted with Glock he held. "Trying to get her attention?" He asked with a hint of that humorless, maniacal laugh in his voice. "She'll never see y-" Tanaki was cut off by the sound of an engine gunning to life, his entire face was a mask of pure horror as he rushed to the window, I looked too and my worries lightened considerably, Sophie was speeding the car out of the drive way, hopefully towards the police station.

Enraged, Tanaki put his gun up against the window and shot the glass, sending shards bursting in every direction. Next he aimed at the retreating bumper of the car, I grabbed at the gun, causing his bullet to hit the road several feet to the right of its target. The deranged detective swore loudly, and by the time he wrestled the gun out of my grip, Sophie was gone.

"It's over Tanaki." I couldn't help but smile as I wiped at my now bloody lip. "No," He said slowly, shaking his head and grabbing wildly at his hair. I took a few steps back, my smile gone. This guy was seriously insane, I was far from safe. As if to prove this new thought Tanaki suddenly glared at me, suddenly appearing quite calm. "It's over for you Milo." He raised his gun and aimed it straight at my head, his finger brushed the trigger just as a floor shaking crashed issued from below us. Before I had time to fully think of what must've caused the crash Tanaki had struck me hard on the side of the head. I was out before I hit the floor.

 **Shai's POV**

"One more good push should do it." Ethan gasped from his side of the heavy steel panel. Our only idea for an escape was to pull the panels off around the door, hopefully to expose a weakness in the door, or a place that we could pick the lock. What we didn't count on was the fact that these panels seemed to weigh a half a ton, after all our efforts we had only managed to nearly dislodge the first one.

Ethan counted to three and we both threw our full body weight on the panel, which finally caved and fell to the ground with a deafening crash. We tiredly high-fived, and began tearing at the aluminum foil and the layers of foam around the side of the door. What little of the side of the door we could get to was heavily reinforced and not a single weakness could be seen.

"We're gonna have to get another one off the wall." I sighed. Ethan just slumped his shoulders, looking defeated. Without another word we started to pry the other panel off the wall. We hadn't even made a dent in our second panel, when the door was flung open and someone was thrown bodily into the room, with a sharp sinking feeling in my stomach I realized it was Milo. Tanaki followed him into the room, his gun held on Milo, until Ethan took a step towards his unconscious form, the Glock swung in his direction and Ethan put his hands up and stepped back. "Look what you two did?" Tanaki said, the glee in his voice evident. "You dragged him into this." I looked at Milo, confused. How had he found Ethan and me, and why was he looking in the first place? I looked to Ethan, who appeared just as lost as I was.

"Or maybe," Tanaki said slowly. "He accidentally dragged _you_ into all this."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ethan asked harshly. "Milo had nothing to do with any of this, you should know, you interrogated him yourself."

Tanaki smiled menacingly. "Honestly, I gave you time to continue your investigation, I left the file in that classroom, I pulled that fire alarm to give you a diversion, I arrested Milo, I left that box of evidence in the bike shed when I could've taken it, I gave you every hint and clue I could think of and you still didn't figure it out. This is all Milo's fault!" He shouted the last part, making both Ethan and me jump, Milo stirred. "He got involved in things that weren't his business, Elizabeth was even worse. Asking questions that shouldn't be answered, hanging around the police station, looking into my past. So I threatened her, and she didn't take me seriously, and she paid the price. So did Gary, so will Milo, and so will you. It's all their fault!" He yelled the last bit again.

"It may be my fault me and my friends are in this mess," I turned my attention back to Milo, he was slowly pushing himself up, his voice hoarse. "But it's your own fault you're like this...It's your own fault this house is empty...You killed your wife you sick sonofabitch."

Tanaki's expression was blank, his voice emotionless. "That wasn't my fault." He said robotic-ally.

Milo snorted, "No, it's never your fault. That's your thing isn't it, assigning blame? Well guess what? All these deaths, all this bloody madness, it's all your fault. Every one whose died, that's all on you."

Tanaki trained his gun back on Milo, a rage beyond description hardened every feature of his face. "You wanted to know why I didn't kill them already?" Tanaki hissed at Milo, placing the gun underneath his jaw and clicking the safety off. "I was planning a big finale, and now you're going down with them, you're gonna leave your sister all alone." There was a pause. "And _that...that_ is _your_ fault." Tanaki seemed to relish the words, savoring the mixed look of rage, and despair on Milo's face.

Slowly he lowered the gun and left, the heavy door crashing shut behind him. No one moved or spoke for several minutes.

"I'm sorry." Milo said softly, his eyes trained on his shoes. "Sorry for what?" I asked just as softly. He looked up and glanced between Ethan and me, "For getting you guys killed."

"That's ridiculous." Ethan cut in furiously. Milo and I looked at him, surprised and alarmed. "No one's dying, alright? We're all going back to Anubis and that bastard's going to prison."

It was a nice thought, but I couldn't shake the feeling that blood wasn't done being spilled. There was just no logical way we could all get out of this alive. I looked at the other two, wondering if it was one of us that would be Tanaki's last victim.

 **Tanaki's POV**

I climbed the stairs and entered the master bedroom, without a second thought. I looked around at all the photos all the memories I had decorated the room with, all the souvenirs of a life before the horror that engulfed me ever since Lilian had died. I picked up a framed photo from where it resided on the drawer top. It was my favorite. A snapshot from our wedding, she looked so beautiful in her dress. I ran my fingers over her face in the photo, and my heartbeat sped up when I saw that my fingers left behind a trail of scarlet blood, _when did I get cut?_

But looking up I saw the entire room was coated in blood, it pooled on the bed, spatterings ran up the wall, onto the ceiling and on the light, puddles soaked into the carpet. I dropped to my knees and dropped the photo when I saw that lying in the center of the floor was my wife, short and petite, her hair fanned out around her head, slashes all along her abdomen, her eyes glassy and staring at me accusingly. Blood turning her white night gown a gruesome red.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, the body was gone, not a speck of blood could be seen.

I looked at the photo I had dropped, the glass and frame was broken, I took the photo, folded it up and tucked it into my pocket.

"I can't do this anymore, not without you." I said to the empty room, I pulled a heavy metal box out from under the bed and opened it. With a strange sense of lightness and contentment I slowly began to strap the bomb to my chest.

 _I'll see you soon._

 **Ethan's POV**

I'm not sure how long we paced the room in a silence heavier than the metal paneling. Despite my attempts at optimism for the sake of the others I didn't think we had a fighting chance to get out of this one. Tanaki was planning a 'big finale'. Whatever that meant he intended to kill, and he had proven he wasn't above killing kids.

Tanaki came back into our holding cell and he was wearing a large coat, but I was more focused on the fact that this time he didn't have a gun on him. We all stopped our pacing and turned to face him, somehow the absence of the gun made me feel much more uneasy than the gun ever did. What did he have that he thought could contain the three of us with no back up weapon?

The answer presented itself almost instantly. Tanaki let the coat open and strapped around his chest was a tangle of multicolored wires and black metal, which was unmistakably a bomb. I felt Shai grip my hand tightly, and Milo tensed at my other side.

"Tanaki what are you doing?" I asked softly. Tanaki didn't look afraid, or mad, or crazy, he looked tired, and he sounded tired when he said. "I'm ending it all. I can't live with all that I've done anymore."

"You don't have to do this." I tried to reason. Tanaki just shook his head, "I do have to do this," He sounded sad now, and his hand trembled as he reached to pull something out of his coat pocket. Milo cut in his voice desperate. "Listen, I understand if you can't handle it anymore, this is a suicide mission. But you have to let us go."

"No!" Tanaki croaked, tears actually leaking from his eyes. "Don't you understand the unjustice I'd be doing you, by letting you wander back into that world of death and pain and misery. I'm done being a monster, killing you now would be a mercy."

"Not if we don't want to die." Shai whispered shakily, squeezing my hand tighter.

"No one wants to die," Tanaki whispered, "But at the end of the day that's all there's left to do. What better way to go than now, when you're soul's still pure and hopeful and you've got someone you love beside you?" Tanaki motioned, to our joined hands. "I've lived without love for years, and look what the world's turned me into. I'm not gonna let that happen to any of you."

Tanaki reached into his coat pocket and pulled out what looked like a joystick with a button on top. _He's really doing it, he's really gonna kill himself and all of us, it's over._

Shai buried her head in my shoulder and I pressed my face against her hair, and we waited. After about a minute with no explosion we both looked up.

Milo stood with his hand pressed over Tanaki's holding the button down, making sure the detective didn't release it. The enormity of the situation hit me all at once, it seemed it did to Shai too, I heard her choke back a sob.

If Milo released the pressure on Tanaki's hand the slightest bit the bomb would blow. There was no conceivable way we could get Milo out of her without setting the bomb off.

"Milo..." I started, then trailed off, not sure what to say. "Ethan, take Shai and go." He said roughly,

"Milo," I tried again, "Take her and go." He interrupted. "Milo there has to be a way," Shai told him bracingly, "There's not!" He practically snarled at her. "Just go. Go...and tell Sophie...tell her...that I'm sorry...and that I've never been good at keeping promises." Shai opened her mouth and then closed it and nodded. "We'll tell her. Don't worry."

Milo nodded, tears welling in his eyes. "Good. Now get out of here while you've still got time." This time we didn't argue, we just left, catching a last teary look of our friend before we closed the door behind us.

 **Milo's POV**

The sound of the heavy metal door shutting ringed through the room with a sense of finality to it. Tanaki and I stood there in silence, waiting, for what I wasn't entirely sure. "They're lucky, you know?" Tanaki said quietly. "Why? You said the world was full of death and pain and misery, I thought killing them was a mercy."

Tanaki nodded. "But, the world is full of wonderful things too. I learned that when I met my Lilian." He said with a vague, reminiscent smile.

"You didn't kill your wife, did you?" I asked softly. Funny how being so close to death with someone can make you see their humanity rather than their inhumanity. I saw a joy but a sadness run deep in his eyes when I mentioned his wife, he cared about someone at least at one point. "No. I found out about a month before she died that she had been cheating, I was going to leave her. But then she told me she was pregnant, and it was mine. We were gonna start over, be a family like we were supposed to be. I didn't kill my wife, a robber did, apparently he didn't know anyone was home, we never caught the guy."

"I'm sorry." I said softly, and I was. "Why'd you kill Elizabeth?" I asked when silence threatened.

Tanaki shook his head, "I keep saying it's because she was digging too deeply into my past, but that's not why, I had nothing to hide before I killed Elizabeth. I just haven't been totally sane since Lilian's death, and something just made me snap. You loved Elizabeth didn't you?"

I looked away, not wanting to answer. "C'mon Milo," Tanaki sounded surprisingly sympathetic, "These are the last few moments of your life, don't spend them lying to yourself." Finally I looked back at Tanaki and nodded. "I really did like her," I conceited. "Maybe even loved her." I added at a look from Tanaki. He sighed. "Love is a horrible and beautiful thing, it can heal the most damaged of souls. But look what it did to me, I lost the one I loved and it turned me into a monster, a killer." He studied me closely before he continued. "Would you want to live knowing there's a chance you'd end up like me? A killer?"

I thought about it intently, seconds passed, minutes, eternities. I looked down at our hands keeping the explosive at bay. "No," I said finally. And I took my hand off the button.

 **Shai's POV**

When Ethan and I got back up into the hall we saw blue and red lights spilling in from the windows. We looked at each other, a feeling of hope erupted in my chest. They might have bomb units, Milo still had a chance. We went as fast as we could out the front door, but we were stopped on the porch, it looked like every cop from the station was pointing their guns at us. Finally one cop called out to all the others, "It's two of the hostages, drop your weapons."

Instantly officers ran up to lead us beyond the police line, but we resisted. "We need a bomb unit in there," "There's someone still in there, and Tanaki has a bomb." "We need to hurry, he can't hold it forever." And so we went, as the cops led us along, we were growing more and more frustrated. Why wasn't anyone listening to us? Finally once we were behind the police line we heard a very welcome voice. "Ethan!" I looked up as Eddie seemed to materialize out of nowhere and catch Ethan in a tight hug, the second they pulled apart, Ethan immediately explained the still-dire situation to his dad. Looking alarmed Eddie promised to call in the bomb squad.

But it was too late.

With the sound of a firework Tanaki's house went up in flames...

We stayed outside that house until just after daybreak. We were checked up by paramedics, we gave our statements to the police, and I was surprised when my dad showed up, and even more surprised when he said my mom was on her way. And through it all, Sophie sat alone a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, sitting on the truck of a grey car. A stony expression on her face.

I came and sat next to her about an hour after the house had been put out. "Listen-" I started, but she cut me off. "Whatever you have to say to me isn't worth the oxygen." She said harshly, not even looking in my direction. "I understand you're mad, and upset, and you're feeling abandoned. And you have every right to take it out on me." I said slowly. "But before you do I just wanted to say that Milo said he was sorry and that he was never very good at keeping promises." Sophie said nothing, she just slid off the trunk and disappeared into the crowd. I sat there, staring after her, wondering if there was anything I could do to help, when Ethan sat on the trunk beside me. "She's strong." He said, taking my hand. "She'll come back from this." I nodded as I looked at out intertwined hands. "Yeah," I agreed. "We all will."

 **Yes! Second story done! Now there will be an epilogue with Milo's funeral and some loose ends involving Pamela and the rest of the Castor family will be in there as well, alongside an author's note about the third story. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and just being the most awesome people in the history of the world and putting up with my horrible uploading schedule. As always may the odds be ever in your favor**

 **-Mockingjay**


	15. Chapter 15

******This is an Author's Note*******

First off, I just want to apologize for my lack of epilogue, but I just want to get it out there and say that I won't be posting one.

I feel horrible considering how patient all my readers have been. It's been months, and to have you do all that waiting and then not giving you a chapter makes me feel awful.

But…I've been trying, since the last time I updated, to write this epilogue. I've written it and trashed it a hundred times.

All I can really give you for a reason is that, I actually lost a friend from school as of last February. She died very suddenly and unexpectedly and it was just a huge shock, to everyone. Obviously, I've still been writing, I finished this story and I'm actually currently working on a story right now, but I knew that I was going to have a problem writing Milo's funeral scene.

As many times as I've tried, I can't successfully put into words how it feels to lose a friend like that, suddenly and without warning and without time to say goodbye. And especially when you're young. I had just turned fifteen when that had happened, and it just hits you once the shock wears off how young you really are and how young they were and just how unfair and senseless the tragedy really is.

I can't write the funeral scene because I can't do it justice. I can't capture the raw emotions and the grief and the tragedy.

And I can't imagine being in Sophie's position and losing a sibling. And I wanted the funeral to include Sophie's eulogy to her brother, but I can't even begin to imagine what someone would say in that situation.

And for all of this I am sorry. I don't want to disappoint you, but it's just a simple fact that I can't bring myself to even attempt the funeral scene anymore.

If any one of you would like to give it a shot, you can write it and PM me, and I'll post it and give you credit. But I personally can't do it.

Just so you have all the information the funeral scene was simply to tie up loose ends.

It's revealed that Pamela actually suffers from mental illnesses, and she had been involved in Milo and Elizabeth's investigation and after her sister had died she had stopped taking her medication causing her to become very delusional. Thus then blaming Shai and the rest of Sibuna for her sisters death and then toying with them as well.

Shai and Sophie share a brief moment of reconciliation, in which Sophie explains that she understands that Shai and Ethan couldn't save her brother, but part of her still hasn't forgiven them.

And I'm still debating on whether or not to do a third story, as usual your input is always appreciated.

Again I'm sorry and I hope you can forgive me.

 **May the odds be ever in your favor**

 **-Mockingjay**


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